Daisy Alliance is excited to announce its new virtual monthly lecture series. Each month will feature a different speaker on salient issues in international security, nuclear weapons policy, and nuclear arms control. We pull from our network of scholars and activists to bring you diverse views on topics such as the war in Ukraine, China’s nuclear weapons policies, nuclear weapons through the lens of competition and power, and the humanitarian consequences of nuclear weapons. These zoom lectures are free and open to the public—we look forward to seeing you each month!
The lecture series launches on September 13, 2022, with our inaugural speaker, Daisy Alliance board member Dr. Martin Hellman. Dr. Hellman is a Professor Emeritus at Stanford University and a long-time expert and activist in the field of nuclear arms control. His current project, Rethinking National Security, questions the assumptions that form the foundation of our thinking on national security. The project’s companion paper argues that “in the age of nuclear weapons, cyberattacks, terrorism, and environmental crisis, national security is becoming inseparable from global security. We need to rethink national security at a fundamental level.”[1] Dr. Hellman also co-wrote a book with his wife, A New Map for Relationships: Creating True Love at Home and Peace on the Planet, which teaches us how to build harmonious relationships at home and how we can translate that harmony to bring peace to the world.
Dr. Hellman’s talk, National Insecurity: Rethinking our fundamental assumptions about national security, will discuss how our thinking about national security is mired in assumptions from the pre-nuclear era that are dangerously obsolete today. He will examine a number of such assumptions and apply them to the war in Ukraine. Click here to register for Dr. Hellman’s talk.
October’s lecture will feature a student panel comprised of undergraduate and graduate students from University of Kentucky’s Patterson School of Diplomacy and International Commerce. This talk will examine youth views on the threat we face today from nuclear weapons and how we can reduce that risk.
In November, Daisy Alliance board member Dr. Chuck Powell will give a talk on an insider’s perspective on US nuclear posture, detailing his time as an Air Force officer with joint authority for up to 150 nuclear warheads. He is also an expert in organizational development, leadership, and change. To tie in with his talk, Dr. Powell wrote a three-part blog series, A Life Among Nuclear Weapons. In part one, he discusses his experiences with nuclear weapons along with a broad outline on the number, distribution, and potential consequences of nuclear weapons. Part two highlights instances of those who have turned away from nuclear weapons. The series concludes with thoughts on what we can do to address the mortal threat posed by nuclear weapons. Keep an eye out for Dr. Powell’s thought-provoking and poignant posts on the Daisy Alliance blog.
Daisy Alliance is actively scheduling additional talks for December and into the new year. We are looking forward to future talks from Dr. Tong Zhao, a senior fellow in the Nuclear Policy Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Dr. Gregory Hall, Daisy Alliance’s Executive Director and Associate Professor at UKY’s Patterson School, and Holly Lindamood, Daisy Alliance’s Associate Director. Dr. Zhao’s research focuses on strategic security, touching on issues such as nuclear weapons policy, deterrence, arms control, nonproliferation, missile defense, hypersonic weapons, and China’s security and foreign policy. Dr. Hall is an expert in international security. His most recent book, Authority, Ascendancy, and Supremacy: China, Russia, and the United States’ Pursuit of Relevancy and Power, examines the competition for power and influence between the US, Russia, and China in the post-Cold War era. Ms. Lindamood is a freelance content writer for Daisy Alliance, developing educational material for high school and college students emphasizing a holistic approach to nuclear weapons policy and advocacy.
To stay in the know about upcoming lectures, join the Daisy Alliance mailing list.
For more information about upcoming events or to interview a Daisy Alliance expert, email Holly Lindamood at daisyalliance2006@gmail.com.
[1] Hellman, Martin. 2019. Rethinking National Security. Federation of American Scientists, April 2019.